2013 BBA Awards: Stan Musial Award (MVP)

The final award that we're bringing you is the Stan Musial Award or league MVP.  This award is often debated regarding the criteria used to select a winner.  There are some people that consider this award to be the player that had the best numbers and was widely considered the best player in the league.  Others feel this award should go to the player who was most valuable to their team, without whom the team would be a shell of itself.  There were some disagreements among the three of us that write this blog over MVP. 

AL MVP
Miguel Cabrera
Chris Davis
Mike Trout

Honestly, a vote for any of the three of these players can be justified, and it wasn't an easy selection.  Trout once again dominated as a five-tooler.  27 HR, 97 RBI, with 33 SB while leading the league in runs scored is an MVP like season.  He also had the highest WAR rating among position players too.  Chris Davis bashed all year for the Orioles, and was a huge reason they contended for much of the season.  He led the league in HR and RBI bashing 53 bombs and driving in 138 runners.  The nod went to Cabrera who turned in another monster year for the Tigers.  He blew the field away in average and captured his third consecutive batting title.  He was also 1 RBI behind Davis and tied for the league lead (with Trout) for Runs Created for all you next level stat heads.  Again, a vote for any of them is justified.

NL MVP
Paul Goldschmidt (Mc & Hersh)
Andrew McCutchen (OCP)
Joey Votto

To take nothing away from Votto's season (100 runs, 24 HR, 73 RBI, .305 avg, led league in On Base), this is really a two player race.  The debate of Goldschmidt vs McCutchen is that argument of best numbers vs most valuable to their team.  Goldschmidt had the better numbers, leading the league in HR and RBI (36, 125).  He also hit over .300 and led the league in slugging and OPS.  Add to that, he swiped 15 bags and walked nearly 100 times.  However, the team barely made a .500 record for the season and no playoffs.  In Pittsburgh, Andrew McCutchen had solid numbers all around.  He may not have led the league in any categories, but he was among the top 5 in nearly all of them.  He is clearly the glue on the Pirates that held them together to make the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.  He is a serious five tool player who can save runs with his glove as well as create them with his bat.  We were split here with Hersh and myself choosing Goldschmidt as the best player in the league whereas the OCP went with McCutchen as the most valuable player on the Pirates team.